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Metro Movement: A Home for the Dancer in You
Whether it’s to take up dancing professionally, get fit or just have a little fun, owners Phil and Kalie Nero promise all of that and much more at Metro Movement. On my three-minute walk from the Broadview station, I do a quick scan of my surroundings—cozy coffee shops, eye-catching salons, and your everyday food marts. Nestled in-between this thriving community is Metro Movement, a professional adult dance studio that first opened its doors in 1989. As I climb up the stairs to meet Phil Nero, the owner, I hear the notes of the piano from a room on the far end, followed by the excited chatter of dancers and…
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“Writing helped me discover my parents and my legacy”: An Interview with Alexandra Risen
In a nutshell, Unearthed is a memoir, it’s about a garden, it’s about a family. But as you start to sift through its pages, you come to an easy conclusion that Unearthed, above all, is a love letter, from a child to its parents, from a woman to the garden that ultimately heals her. Alexandra Risen had always loved reading and dreamt of writing books someday. But it wasn’t until the past 10 years, when Alexandra—formerly a seasoned corporate executive and currently one of three co-founders of the non-profit online literary magazine Don’t Talk to Me About Love—took writing seriously. And she finally found the words for her debut novel…
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“I struggle with the word power”: An Interview with Ann Buller
Says Ann Buller, President and CEO of Centennial College, on being named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. Having assumed the presidency of Centennial College in 2004, Ann Buller has proved herself time and again. From Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (Governor General of Canada, 2013) to President’s/Chancellor’s Award (North American Council for Staff Program and Organizational Development, 2010), Buller added yet another feather in her overcrowded cap when she was recently named Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network—a title given to her in 2010 as well. Buller has been working in the education sector for the past 25 years. And what does the view…
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From Writing to Driving: Craig Davidson’s Journey as a Bus Driver
The author reveals how despite his stellar literary career—one of his books was made into a Hollywood film—he felt he had hit rock bottom. Craig Davidson has published four books of literary fiction, including Rust and Bone, which was made into a Golden Globe-nominated film starring Marion Cotillard, and Cataract City, which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Trillium Book Prize. The 31-year-old has also written about “boxing and dog fights, zombies and werewolves, vampire and lunatic prison inmates” under the pen names, Patrick Lestewka and Nick Cutter. But rather than being most impressed with his illustrious career, it was an honest confession that won the crowd at…
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“A writer, in some ways, lives and dies with the characters”: An Interview with Madeleine Thien
Says Madeleine Thien, author of the award-winning novel, Do No Say We Have Nothing. I often judge a book by its cover. But when it came to Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Madeleine Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing (the book also received the Governor General’s Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), history was not bound to repeat itself. I met Thien during a session organized by Pivot Reading Series late November. As I mustered up the courage to speak to the author, I was soon pleasantly surprised by her honesty and genuine interest. When asked how the people closest to her shaped her into the…
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Of Pirates, Parrots, and Persecution: An Interview with Gary Barwin
Ever heard of a talking parrot? I am assuming you have. Now what about the 500-year-old immortal, gay, and Yiddish-speaking parrot, who has set the literary world abuzz? Oh! Did we mention the parrot is also the narrator of a tale brimming with pirates, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, and the tragic Spanish inquisition from the 12th and 19th centuries? If that just made your head spin, let us direct you to the source—Gary Barwin, a writer, composer, multimedia artist, and the author of twenty books of poetry, fiction, and books. In his first adult fiction, Yiddish for Pirates, the 52-year-old pulled out all the stops in creating a literary piece…
